Bottom rail assembly for venetian blinds



June 3, 1947.- J. HUNTER 2,421,505

BOTTOM RAIL ASSEMBLY FOR VENETIAN BLINDS Filed Feb. 13, 1945 y P; INVENTOR.

RTRDQNEV Patented June 3, 1947 BOTTOM RAIL ASSEMBLY FOR VENETIAN BLINDS Joseph L. Hunter, Riverside, Calif., assignor to Hunter Engineering 00., Riverside, Calif., a corporation of California Application February 13, 1945, Serial No. 577,691

Claims.

My invention relates to the construction of bottom rails for Venetian blinds and has particular reference to a construction for the same in which the bottom rails may be made of metal particularly adapted for use with Venetian blinds formed with metal slats.

In the construction of Venetian blinds it has recently become the practice to construct such Venetian blinds with the slats formed of strips of metal as distinguished from the previous wood slat constructions and it is desirable that with such metal slat blinds a bottom rail structure also formed of metal be employed. Moreover, in Venetian blind assemblies of relatively great length, it is desirable to provide a relatively great number of lifting and lowering cords for suspending the blind structure-necessitating the passing of the cords over pulley assemblies located upon the bottom rail structure in order that all-of the lifting and lowering cords may be raised and lowered by a single lifting and lowering mechanism.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a bottom rail structure for Venetian blinds which may be readily formed of sheet metal in the shape of an elongated flattened hollow tube.

Another object of my invention is to provide a Venetian blind bottom rail structure of the character set forth in which the bottom, rail structure may be formed in any desired commercial lengths and then may be cut to fit theparticular length of a Venetian blind as desired and the cut ends finished with end closures pressfitted into the ends of the tubular bottom rail.

Another object of my invention is to provide a bottom rail structure for Venetian blinds of the character set forth wherein cord pulleysmay be disposed within and concealed within the hollow tubular bottom rail assembly.

Another object of my invention is to provide a pulley structure which may be employed within the hollow bottom rail structure, which is relatively simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture.

Another object of my invention is to provide a pulley of the character set forth wherein the pulley may be asse'inbled and held in place within the bottom rail structure by the same attaching means which is employed to secure the ladder tapes to the bottom rail.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from a study of the following specifications, read in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a Venetian blind assembly illustrating the manner in which my bottom rail assembly may be used;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary exploded perspective view of a portion of the bottom rail structure shown in Fig. 1 and illustrating the-manner in which the end closure may be assembled therewith;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken through a bottom rail structure constructed in accordance with my invention, illustrating the mounting therewithin of a cord pulley concealed within the bottom rail structure; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view through a portion of a -bottom rail and pulley assembly such as that illustrated in Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, I have illustrated in Fig. 1 a typical assembly of a slat supporting ladder comprised of a pair of parallel extending tapes I and], between which, as will be under stood by those skilled in this art, there extends a number of cross webs or bars (not shown) upon which the slats of the assembled blind may rest. The ladder tapes I and 2 are illustrated as passing downwardly along the side edges of' a bottom rail assembly 3 to be secured to the underneath surface of the bottom rail assembly 3 as by means ofa tape. fastener illustrated at 4 in Figs. 3 and 4 and adapted to be covered and enclosed-by acover plate 5 secured to the bottom rail structure 3 as by means, of screws 6. The bottom rail assembly 3 is preferably constructed as a length of elongated flattened hollow tube 1 which, if desired,

may be formed as a seamless tube or may be inexpensively constructed as by forming a pair of channel members la and lb, the side flanges, of

the channel la receiving therebetween the side flanges of the channel 117, the two channels being secured together by any suitable means such as a series of spot welds 8. v

The bottom rail tube may be factory fabricated in any desired commercial lengths and may then be cut to lengths adapted for a particular blind assembly and the ends of the tube may thenbe finished off by means of metal closures 9, preferably stamped .or formed in the shape indicated in Fig.2,.the inner end l0 thereof being slightly less dimensions than the major and minor transverse axes of the tube 1 so as to permit the closure member 9 to be pressed into the cut end of the tube I. The closures 9 are preferably formed with projecting lips II at opposite side edges thereof to comprise abutments against which the ends of the side edges of the tube 1 may ,abut to prevent the closures 9 from being inadvertently pressed wholly within the tube 1. The lips ll it is desired to not be described here constitute also abutments against which a screwdriver, chisel or other tool may be engaged when disassemble the closure 9 from the tube end with which it is associated.

It will be observed that the tubular bottom rail member I provides ample space within its interior for the reception and mounting of cord pulleys wherever it is desired to pass lifting and lowering cords from the bottom of the blind to the bottom rail and then along the bottom rail and back up to the top of the blind. A simple and inexpensive form of pulley adapted for this purpose is illustrated particularly in Figs. 3 and 4 as comprising a metal bracket l2 having a pair of up-turned parallel ears i3 through which extends a pin it constituting the bearing upon which a spool pulley i5 is mounted. An opening it formed in the lower surface of the tube 7 immediately below a cord aperture i'i formed in the upper surface thereof permits the insertion of the pulley assembly l3, l4 and I5 into the hollow space [8 formed within the tube I, the pulley being held in place by any suitable means such as screws 6 which, in the form of apparatus illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, also are employed to secure the lower ends'of the adjacent tapes l and 2 to the bottom rail assembly. A tape fastening plate l9, such as that illustrated, described and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 577,692, filed February 13, 1945, need other than to point out that the plate I9 is formed with a pair of tongues 20 struck from the plate iii to provide a space 2| through which the tapes I or 2 may be drawn and then folded back beneath the tongues 20 to hold the tapes I securely in position.

To facilitate the'assembly of thecover plate 5, the tape fastening plate l9 and the pulley bracket l2 by the same screws 6, it is only necessary to provide the bracket H with a pair of apertures 22 and 23 spaced longitudinally of the rail by the same spacing as the apertures through which the screws 6 extend through the cover plate. Thus the assembly of all of the structure may be made by a single pair of screws 6.

It will therefore be observed that I have provided a bottom rail structure which may be readily and inexpensively constructed of metal in the form of a hollow tube finished off at its ends by means of closures merely press-fitted into the ends of the desired length of tubular bottom rail and that such bottom rail structure, being hollow, provides a space in which the necessary or desired pulley and cord structures may be mounted and concealed within such tubular bottom rail.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention; I do not desire to be limited to-any of the details of construction shown and described herein, except as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a bottom rail structure for Venetian blinds, the combination of an elongated tubular member having a flattened cross section, and a closure member for each end of said tubular member comprising a substantially cup-shaped closure having a transverse cross section corresponding to the transverse cross section of said member, and having at each wardly projecting lip to abut the end of the tubutubular member, the I member being snugly insertable into the end ofsaid tubular member, the base of the cup-shape closure having at least one dimension iniexcess of the corresponding internal dimension ofthe tubular-member. Y

2. In a bottom rail structure for Venetian blinds, the combination of an elongated tubular member having a, flattened cross section, and a closure member for each end of said tubular member comprising a substantially cup-shaped closure having a transverse cross section corresponding to the transverse cross section of said tubular member, the side walls of said closure member being snugly insertable'into the end of said tubular lar rail member and to prevent insertion of said closure wholly within the tubular member.

3. In a bottom rail. for Venetian blinds, an'

elongated tubular member having a substantially flattened cross section, a cord pulley mounted within and concealed within said tubular member, said cord pulley comprising a bracket secured to the lower face of said rail member and having a pair of upwardly projecting parallel ears extending into the interior of said tubular rail member, and a pulley member rotatably mounted upon said ears.

4. In a bottom rail assembly for Venetian blinds, a bottom rail comprising a hollow tubular member of substantially rectangular cross section, means on the lower face of said rail member for engaging and fastening Venetian blind ladder tapes thereto, a pulley means mounting a cord pulley within said tubular member, and screw means extending through said tape fastening means and said pulley means for simultaneously securing said fastening means and said means to said rail member.

5. In a bottom rail assembly for Venetian blinds, a bottom rail comprising a hollow tubular member of substantially rectangular cross section, means on the lower face of said rail member for engaging and fastening Venetian blind ladder tapes thereto, a pulley means mounting a cord pulleywithin said tubular member, a cover plate disposed below said fastening means to cover and conceal the same, and screw means extending through said cover plate, said fastening means and said pulley means and into engagement with the lower side of said rail member for simultaneously securing all of said members together.

JOSEPH L. HUNTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS side walls of said closure of its ends an out- I 

